My submissions for this month. Please give comments.
I think half of the dampings were missing and there were quite a few dead/wrong notes. But it's the end of the month, so here they are:

Nicely played. I'm watching your ma fingers in the exercise as I'm trying to work out the best alternation. You've given me some ideas.
In the LuPrimm I'm not sure about the timing in 1st few bars. Are you holding the first 2 notes of each bar for full length, sounds very even on timing. I've just started looking at this and find the timng surprisingly tricky to get right.

Ignore what I said about timing in LuPrimm, you are right, i was confusing myself, all worked out now.

Btw, ping-pong ball material works perfectly as an artificial nail: easy to shape in all 3 dimensions (gets soft when heated), easy to polish, have approx. same thickness as a nail (a tiny bit thicker) and flexibility (for good tone), durable, cheap and can be done by anyone. I actually like it even better than my natural nail

My submissions for this month. Please give comments.
I think half of the dampings were missing and there were quite a few dead/wrong notes. But it's the end of the month, so here they are:

Hey Chu, now I know how difficult it is to record these pieces... At some point I thought I was ready, but it took another couple of days to practice and hours of air time and still there were a lot of mistakes...
You did great job, and most difficult fragments are done well. Congrats on finishing this lesson!

Here is my version of the Roggi piece - I have really been struggling to get a good recording of this and am still not happy. But time is a hard task master and I have many more pieces to record and catch up with before we start on month 7 and of course the exam pieces. I was struggling to get the dampings in - it was hard enough to get most of the right notes in the right order!

With apologies if you can hear any jet aircraft in the background, I am currently staying in a holiday cottage just outside Bangor - so just a stones throw from RAF valley on Anglesey. Earlier today I was watching them skillfully weave in and out of the mountians. Reminded me of top gun.

My submissions for this month. Please give comments.
I think half of the dampings were missing and there were quite a few dead/wrong notes. But it's the end of the month, so here they are:

Well done Chu! This month's pieces certainly were quite a challenge. It really was hard enough to learn to play them all never mind thinking about dynamics, dampings and so on.

To my ear, 2 of the 3 pieces (the Sor and the Roggi)consist of a series of arpeggiated chords rather than individual notes. Once you start to think of them this way in terms of chord shapes and arpeggios it becomes a little more easy to play them more legato.

Also, I like the rubato way that Jean Fancois plays the Roggi - I did try to emulate this a little, but couldn't get it to sound as good as theJF version.

A minor point, but sometimes in my eagreness to record I forget to tune my guitar - I think you may have done the same.

Look forward to hearing you play again in month 7 - Keep up the good work.

Here is my version of the Roggi piece - I have really been struggling to get a good recording of this and am still not happy. But time is a hard task master and I have many more pieces to record and catch up with before we start on month 7 and of course the exam pieces. I was struggling to get the dampings in - it was hard enough to get most of the right notes in the right order!

With apologies if you can hear any jet aircraft in the background, I am currently staying in a holiday cottage just outside Bangor - so just a stones throw from RAF valley on Anglesey. Earlier today I was watching them skillfully weave in and out of the mountians. Reminded me of top gun.

That's a beautiful and clean rendition, Dave. I really enjoyed listening to it. The most difficult thing is to play it legato, I guess you really nailed it.

[Btw, ping-pong ball material works perfectly as an artificial nail: easy to shape in all 3 dimensions (gets soft when heated), easy to polish, have approx. same thickness as a nail (a tiny bit thicker) and flexibility (for good tone), durable, cheap and can be done by anyone. I actually like it even better than my natural nail
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I had mine fixed at a nail salon. No more messing around with CA glue and repairs. Lasts until it grows out, simply have it redone (cheap too). Permanently fixed my nail problems.

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[Btw, ping-pong ball material works perfectly as an artificial nail: easy to shape in all 3 dimensions (gets soft when heated), easy to polish, have approx. same thickness as a nail (a tiny bit thicker) and flexibility (for good tone), durable, cheap and can be done by anyone. I actually like it even better than my natural nail

I had mine fixed at a nail salon. No more messing around with CA glue and repairs. Lasts until it grows out, simply have it redone (cheap too). Permanently fixed my nail problems.

A powder form of acrylic. It's tougher than your nails. I've had no playing problems from this.

They first lightly scuffed the nail surface, then applied a primer/bonding agent. Then, using a brush (nail salon brush I suppose ) dipped in a solvent of some sort, he dipped it in the acrylic powder, then coated my nail. It hardened, and he then filed and sanded to shape.

No more splitting or hooked nail problems. They also can lengthen the nail as you may be able to see in photo.

It took me a while to work up the nerve to go there, but I will go from now on. If your repairs don't work out, this could be another option.

Here is my version of the Roggi piece - I have really been struggling to get a good recording of this and am still not happy. But time is a hard task master and I have many more pieces to record and catch up with before we start on month 7 and of course the exam pieces. I was struggling to get the dampings in - it was hard enough to get most of the right notes in the right order!

With apologies if you can hear any jet aircraft in the background, I am currently staying in a holiday cottage just outside Bangor - so just a stones throw from RAF valley on Anglesey. Earlier today I was watching them skillfully weave in and out of the mountians. Reminded me of top gun.

That's a beautiful and clean rendition, Dave. I really enjoyed listening to it. The most difficult thing is to play it legato, I guess you really nailed it.

Thank you for your comment Andrie. Not sure I got the dynamics quite right, as looking back at the video my right hand seems to stay mainly in the same place.

Your submissions for this month are excellent. You obviously work very hard on both right and left handed technique and the way you alternate your fingers on the right hand makes for a very fluid technique. I hope I can learn from your example.

Love the idea of using ping pong balls to repair nails. Nail repair is an ongoing battle for me as a result of the type of work I do, often having to move people and equipment quickly where it is literally a matter of life and death. So I often damage my nails, and the nail glue I use only seems to last for a few days.

By the way, nice picture of you with David Russel - Did you hear him play? Also, did you have a chance to chat and did you pick up any good tips from him?

Once again thank you for your most excellent contributions to this forum. It really is most appreciated.

now I know how difficult it is to record these pieces... At some point I thought I was ready, but it took another couple of days to practice and hours of air time and still there were a lot of mistakes...

Excellent performance Andrei. I'm still finding these slow to get up to speed.

With apologies if you can hear any jet aircraft in the background, I am currently staying in a holiday cottage just outside Bangor - so just a stones throw from RAF valley on Anglesey. Earlier today I was watching them skillfully weave in and out of the mountians. Reminded me of top gun.

It always amuses me when walking along the tops in N Wales and look down on the jets flying in the valleys

A powder form of acrylic. It's tougher than your nails. I've had no playing problems from this.

They first lightly scuffed the nail surface, then applied a primer/bonding agent. Then, using a brush (nail salon brush I suppose ) dipped in a solvent of some sort, he dipped it in the acrylic powder, then coated my nail. It hardened, and he then filed and sanded to shape.

No more splitting or hooked nail problems. They also can lengthen the nail as you may be able to see in photo.

It took me a while to work up the nerve to go there, but I will go from now on. If your repairs don't work out, this could be another option.

Thank you for this detailed info, Tom! Looks really natural, I would not be able to tell an artificial from a natural one. But isn't that a problem that these nails are much harder and not flexible enough? I mean isn't it more difficult to get warm and full tone? Well, I probably answer this question myself: it mostly depends on technique, nail shape and the way you attack strings.
So, thanks for this great advice, I might consider this option too. Fortunately, my work does not require any physical activity except typing on a keyboard and occasional ping-pong playing (which might be a big deal if you hit a table edge with a finger accidentally). Also, carrying a laptop, one should be careful when picking it up from a table

Here is my version of the Roggi piece - I have really been struggling to get a good recording of this and am still not happy. But time is a hard task master and I have many more pieces to record and catch up with before we start on month 7 and of course the exam pieces. I was struggling to get the dampings in - it was hard enough to get most of the right notes in the right order!

With apologies if you can hear any jet aircraft in the background, I am currently staying in a holiday cottage just outside Bangor - so just a stones throw from RAF valley on Anglesey. Earlier today I was watching them skillfully weave in and out of the mountians. Reminded me of top gun.

That's a beautiful and clean rendition, Dave. I really enjoyed listening to it. The most difficult thing is to play it legato, I guess you really nailed it.

Thank you for your comment Andrie. Not sure I got the dynamics quite right, as looking back at the video my right hand seems to stay mainly in the same place.

Your submissions for this month are excellent. You obviously work very hard on both right and left handed technique and the way you alternate your fingers on the right hand makes for a very fluid technique. I hope I can learn from your example.

Thanks! Actually, in Barcarolle I repeatedly used the 'a' finger... The other piece (Sor's) was mostly arpeggio and no one-string passages at all.

Love the idea of using ping pong balls to repair nails. Nail repair is an ongoing battle for me as a result of the type of work I do, often having to move people and equipment quickly where it is literally a matter of life and death. So I often damage my nails, and the nail glue I use only seems to last for a few days.

By the way, nice picture of you with David Russel - Did you hear him play? Also, did you have a chance to chat and did you pick up any good tips from him?

Once again thank you for your most excellent contributions to this forum. It really is most appreciated.

As Tom mentioned, that might be a quite hassle to repair nails. That glue is so sticky, it really needs some training to get the hang of it. It is too easy to glue 2 fingers together

You've got a tough job, Dave. Is it some emergency service or something?

I attended David's concert in San Jose, California. He mostly played Weiss, Bach, Assad (a composition dedicated to David), celtic songs. I was intently looking at his right hand, but did not see the fingers attacking strings (because our seats were on the left side). Of course, it was the greatest tone, cleanest playing (really very few flubs) and super musicality and stuff. I did not talk to him, there was a line behind, so we quickly said 'thanks for the concert' and made pictures. That's a really nice and easy going guy.

A powder form of acrylic. It's tougher than your nails. I've had no playing problems from this.

They first lightly scuffed the nail surface, then applied a primer/bonding agent. Then, using a brush (nail salon brush I suppose ) dipped in a solvent of some sort, he dipped it in the acrylic powder, then coated my nail. It hardened, and he then filed and sanded to shape.

No more splitting or hooked nail problems. They also can lengthen the nail as you may be able to see in photo.

It took me a while to work up the nerve to go there, but I will go from now on. If your repairs don't work out, this could be another option.

Thank you for this detailed info, Tom! Looks really natural, I would not be able to tell an artificial from a natural one. But isn't that a problem that these nails are much harder and not flexible enough? I mean isn't it more difficult to get warm and full tone? Well, I probably answer this question myself: it mostly depends on technique, nail shape and the way you attack strings.
So, thanks for this great advice, I might consider this option too. Fortunately, my work does not require any physical activity except typing on a keyboard and occasional ping-pong playing (which might be a big deal if you hit a table edge with a finger accidentally). Also, carrying a laptop, one should be careful when picking it up from a table

For me, the difference in stiffness was actually an improvement, all my nails are finally the same thickness and hardness. I had a lot of problems before, different issues with each finger it seemed. Although come to think of it, my thumb strikes do sound a bit louder at times.... I may need to shape them a bit. Still learning this part, I've never had enough nail length to even get to that point.

I (too) have had to learn to grab stuff with my left hand.

By the way, I've enjoyed listening to the posts you guys generate. I've been following you all for a while now and all you guys sound great.